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Part of Southway was cordoned off while the hide was examined by Army bomb disposal officers

Police have found a gun and ammunition in a suspected dissident republican weapons hide in County Londonderry.

The discovery was made during a search operation in the Southway area of the city on Thursday morning.

Army bomb disposal officers were called to the scene at about 10:00 BST and the items were taken away for further examination.

Supt Gordon McCalmont said they were "lethal and clearly going to be used to inflict serious harm and fear".

"Whoever is responsible for burying these munitions does not care that these could have been discovered by a member of the public; nor do they care that these are intended to cause serious harm to a victim in the future," he added.

The officer, who is the PSNI's district commander for Derry City and Strabane, appealed for anyone with information about the hide to contact detectives.

"I would also like to thank local people for their patience today while Southway was closed to enable us to remove these dangerous items," he said.